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Altimeter Data for Operational Use in the Marine Environment

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Altimeter Data for Operational Use in the Marine Environment ALTIMETER DATA FOR OPERATIONAL USE IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT Susan Digby, Thomas Antczak Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California Robert Leben, George Born, Suzanne Barth University of Colorado, Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, Boulder, Colorado Robert Cheney NOAA, Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry, Silver Spring, Maryland David Foley NOAA Coastwatch, and University of Hawaii, JIMAR, Honolulu, Hawaii Gustavo Jorge Goni NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, PhO, Miami, Florida Gregg Jacobs Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi Nick Shay University of Miami, Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, Florida ABSTRACT an Earth orbiting satellite, have been used extensively by the science community to better TOPEX/Poseidon has been collecting altimeter understand ocean circulation and the role of the data continuously since October 1992. Altimeter oceans in climate and weather. As derived products data have been used to produce maps of sea surface have been made available, use of the data for height, geostrophic velocity, significant wave height, operational purposes has increased, as it has become and wind speed. This information is of proven use to evident that the data complements other information mariners as well as to the scientific community. Uses at the mariners disposal. It has also become apparent of the data include commercial and recreational that incorporation of altimeter data into weather and vessel routing, ocean acoustics, input to geographic climate forecasts increases the accuracy of these information systems developed for the fishing products. industry, identification of marine mammal habitats, II. PRODUCT TYPES fisheries management, and monitoring ocean debris. As with sea surface temperature data from the Product types include maps of sea surface height, Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) geostrophic velocity, significant wave height, and in the late 1980s and early 1990s, altimeter data wind speed. Products of most use to mariners are from TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1 and -2 are in the likely to be sea surface anomaly maps with process of being introduced to the marine world for superimposed geostrophic velocity vectors. operational maritime use. It is anticipated that over the next few years companies that specialize in A. Sea Surface Height producing custom products for shipping agencies, fisheries and yacht race competitors will be Sea surface height is defined as the distance of incorporating altimeter data into their products. The the sea surface above a known reference surface, data are also being incorporated into weather and such as the earth's ellipsoid or the marine geoid. The climate forecasts by operational agencies both in the sea surface height is computed from altimeter range US and Europe. This paper will discuss these and satellite altitude above the reference ellipsoid. products, their uses, operational demonstrations and (The "reference ellipsoid" is the first-order definition means of accessing the data. of the non-spherical shape of the Earth as an ellipsoid of revolution with equatorial radius of I. INTRODUCTION 6378.1363 kilometers and a flattening coefficient of 1/298.257.) An alternate reference surface to the Altimeter data products are in the process of earth's ellipsoid is the marine geoid, which is defined making the transition from scientific to operational as the shape the ocean would take if it were at rest. use. Altimeter data from TOPEX/Poseidon, which is When altimeter data are referenced to an ellipsoid the dominant pattern seen is the order 100 meter Current enters the Gulf between Yucatan and Cuba, amplitude signal of the marine geoid corresponding then loops and exits south of Florida through the to changes in sea surface height associated with Florida Straits. Circular streamlines depict the changes in the mass distribution of the earth. These locations of energetic anticyclonic (sea surface highs changes in height reflect changes in the gravity field shaded light gray) and cyclonic (sea surface lows and are useful for marine geology and offshore oil shaded dark gray) eddies that commonly occur in the and gas exploration. Of more interest to mariners is Gulf. The contour increment is 5 cm and every 10 the sea surface height relative to the geoid, which cm are annotated. This type of product is available shows the order one meter sea surface height on a daily basis from the University of Colorado. changes associated with the mean and time varying ocean circulation. Unfortunately, errors in current B. Geostrophic Velocity Vectors estimates of the marine geoid are large enough to prevent the accurate mapping of the mean Geostrophic velocity vectors are also a widely circulation at the smaller scales (<10 degrees) of used product and the vectors are most often provided interest to mariners. Fortunately, the time varying superimposed on maps of sea surface height or sea component can be measured accurately using an surface height anomalies. The geostrophic current is altimeter. For this reason sea surface height is often a major component of oceanic surface currents. shown as a sea surface height anomaly or deviation, Ocean currents are a function of wind forcing, tidal the difference between the sea surface height at the forces, buoyancy, and the Earth's rotation and time of measurement and the average sea surface gravity. The earth's gravity acts to move water from height for that region. Producers of these data use areas of higher water levels (pressure) to lower water various averages; some averages include all levels (pressure). When this component of the current available data and some averages are specific to caused by pressure is balanced with the component seasons. To recover the total sea surface height caused by the earth's rotations (Coriolis effect), the associated with the ocean circulation, a "synthetic" current is said to be geostrophic. In the deep ocean a observation is constructed by adding the mean large percentage of the ocean surface current is dynamic height determined from shipboard often in geostrophic balance and can be computed hydrographic measurements taken over the years to by knowing the changes in sea surface height and the anomaly. Maps derived by adding the sea surface the latitude of the point of interest. height anomaly to an estimated mean surface from hydrography realistically depict the total sea surface height associated with regions of persistent current such as the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic and the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico. Fig. 2. Estimated geostrophic flow field associated with the total sea surface height field depicted in Fig. 1. The flow field is visualized using streamlines determined from a 2-day integration of simulated particles released at grid points of the geostrophic velocity field. The magnitude of the geostrophic velocity is proportional to the sea surface slope and is Fig. 1. Synthetic total sea surface height field for the directed along isolines of constant height with higher Gulf of Mexico on February 11, 1999. This field was surface height values to the right (left) when facing in constructed by adding the mean sea surface height the direction of flow for the northern (southern) field from realistic numerical simulation of the Gulf hemisphere. Note the strong clockwise and to the interpolated altimeter measurements of counterclockwise circulation associated with the TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-2 with respect to a long- anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies in the Gulf, term altimetric mean field. The streamlines (isolines respectively. This type of product is available on a of height) of the flow associated with the Loop daily basis from the University of Colorado. C. Wind Speed Wind speed as measured from an altimeter is an indirect measurement based on the small-scale roughness of the sea surface. Wind speed is measured from the strength of the returned signal. There is a reliable relationship between the energy scattered from near-nadir and the wind speed. The altimeter does not give wind direction. Satellite scatterometer wind observations can used to determine both wind direction and magnitude and are of more use to the operational maritime community, however, wind speed from altimetry is useful for comparisons to these products. Altimetrically derived wind speeds are also valuable for generating wind climatologies because of the Fig. 3 Example of a chart provided to mariners by long time series available. private industry. D. Significant Wave Height III. APPLICATIONS OF SPACEBORNE ALTIMETRY DATA Significant wave height is calculated from altimeter data based on the slope of the leading A. Ship Routing edge of the altimeter waveform, which is similar to a binned (time) histogram of the power returned by the Maps of sea surface anomalies overlaid with radar pulse after it bounces off the sea surface. A velocity vectors have been used in commercial calm sea with low waves returns a short, sharply shipping and competitive sailing to optimize the defined pulse whereas a rough sea with high waves route from one destination to another. The maps are returns a stretched pulse because the energy begins used to locate ocean features such as currents and to come back from the tops of the waves and eddies which are associated with high currents. In continues until the pulse hits the valley of the wave. cases where the rhumb line, the shortest distance The significant wave height is the average height of between two points goes though strong currents a the highest one-third of all waves in a particular time variety of tactics can be used. In the case where the period. Wave direction is not provided by altimeter rhumb line crosses orthogonal to a current, sailors are data. Maps of significant wave heights and wave likely to cross at a point and at an angle such that the height climatologies are useful for ship routing. duration of the crossing is minimized. E. Combined Data Products Where the rhumb line crosses eddies, mariners use knowledge of the location of the eddies and velocity Combined data products are a final category of vectors to optimize their route.
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